Man, 25, Froze To Death On Lawn

TORRINGTON — An autopsy on Thursday determined that a 25-year-old man found dead on a snow-covered South End lawn died of exposure to the cold.

State Medical Examiner Wayne Carver's staff said they had determined that Christopher Clem died of accidental freezing.

Police, however, still have questions about the circumstances of Clem's death, and are continuing to keep open the possibility that a crime was involved.

``We have not ruled out foul play,'' Chief Roger Janelle said late Thursday.

A neighbor discovered Clem face down in the snow early Wednesday morning outside 380 S. Main St.

Clem was wearing pants and boots but no shirt or coat, and his body had cuts and other wounds. The autopsy determined those injuries did not kill him.

Police want to learn why he was only partly dressed, why he was on a neighbor's lawn when he died and whether he had been hurt in a fight or accidentally. Until they have answers, investigators will continue considering the death a possible homicide.

Despite the autopsy's conclusion that Clem died of ``accidental hypothermia,'' police say it's possible that a crime had been committed. If someone had attacked and hurt Clem before he died, for instance, there could still be a criminal aspect to his death, police said. But investigators also acknowledge that the death might prove to be accidental.

Clem, who grew up in Bantam and graduated from Litchfield High School, lived with a male roommate on Meadow Street. Detectives spent Thursday trying to determine where Clem had been Tuesday evening and whom he had been with.

Torrington detectives along with state troopers from the Western District Major Crime Squad were working on the case.